The Columbus Wildcats came up short in a pair of conference basketball battles last night at Pekin. The Columbus girls hung tough early, trailing only 11-8 after one quarter. But seeing that deficit grow to nine points at halftime and get doubled from there would be too much, as the Wildcats fell 45-24. Senior Sara Vela and sophomore Ariana Vergara led Columbus in scoring with 10 points each, but it was not enough to keep the Wildcats from falling to 6-6 in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North and 7-9 overall.

The Columbus boys also lost at Pekin last night, 65-29. Trailing 20-8 after a quarter of play proved to be too much for the Wildcats, who are now 1-9 in conference action and 2-13 overall. Both Wildcat teams next play Friday against WACO.